How Video Marketing Can Help Your Personal Branding

One of the ways video marketing can help business owners is the way it can boost their personal brand.

Sports players, executives, musicians, actors, entrepreneurs and professionals are all realizing how important it is to build their personal brand and one of the best ways to do so is video marketing.

Here are a few ways video marketing can help your personal brand:

1. Share Who you are- video gives you a chance to share who you are in a visually stimulating and personal way.

People can get to see your personality, mannerisms, facial expressions and so many other characteristics that they would normally not know if you just wrote an article.

If you really want your fans, followers, clients and prospects to get to know you without having physically met you, videos can provide the perfect platform.

2. Relationship building- one of the key elements to successful branding is relationship marketing and video can help you build strong relationship connections with your audience.

As they keep watching your videos they become more familiar and comfortable with you.

They can also interact with you by asking live questions if you are on a video conference or webinar or they can post responses in the comment section of the video page.

3. Share your knowledge- video is one of the best communication methods for you to share your special knowledge, skills and thoughts in your area of expertise.

It provides an easy and engaging way to dispense information to your audience that has the highest response rates over text or audio.
The proof of this is the sheer number of tutorials, demo videos and how to videos available on YouTube which shows videos are a popular way for people to get the information they need.

Video Marketing Proven to Lower Advertising Costs

Today, every business has had to tighten their wallets and consider ways to lower the overhead costs and expenses. Overall, expenses are up due to the rising costs associated with running a business.

On the flip side, purchases are down due to the current economic state. This presents a real “one-two” punch that most business owners are not equipped to deal with.

It’s a sad that some business owners don’t even foresee any real way out of their failing businesses.

However, when you implement innovative marketing moves – such as the use of video marketing – your advertising costs are reduced dramatically and you can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Understanding how video marketing tools will increase your business success will help you create new ways to continuously boost your bottom line.

In the shortest time span imaginable, online video marketing has changed the way information moves and dollars come into your pocket as a business owner.

Why spend countless hours and money on traditional advertising methods that are no longer effective when a short spot can be embedded right onto your landing page or website?

You will realize far more results in terms of energy and finances expended if you recognize the importance of using video marketing to sell your product or service.

Not only will your customers be delighted to experience the trendiest means of advertising, but your business partners will look at you with newfound respect because you were able to cut costs without losing quality.

Get on the video marketing train and start uploading your powerful videos today. You will dramatically decrease your advertising budget yet increase your bottom line through dynamic and innovative marketing.

Give your customers that little bit of extra human touch and watch as online marketing becomes your most effective money-making tool EVER.

Managing Negativity on Social Networking Sites

Everyone agrees that one way to draw attention to your business is by leveraging the power of Social Networking. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are very popular sites and could be harboring a large sum of potential customers for your business.

In fact, social networking activities calculate to about about 15% of all internet use daily – this is HUGE.

We all know about Facebook. Whether you have your own account or you know of someone else who does, you are well aware that this is the most popular online social networking sites today.

Facebook has more than 750 Million users – imagine how many of your local customers you could reach just by using Facebook!

So when it comes to building and maintaining your company’s reputation, this is one place to start.

Studies show that Facebook users spend quite a bit of time logged in each day socializing, sharing information, and responding to messages.

So let’s say you have an unhappy customer who posts negative information about your business on your Facebook Fan page. You can respond to any negativity that comes your way immediately if you manage your Fan page properly.

It’s a known fact that people do business with those they like and trust. So if you can tap into those zones, you can eventually build a solid reputation that can’t be touched.

To do so, your main goal should be to share valuable information with your followers on a consistent basis as well as provide special discount offers from time to time.

Maintaining your online reputation also involves heavily monitoring what is being said about your business online. If you don’t know that something negative has been said, you have no chance of responding to it or correcting it.

How detrimental could that be for your business?

5 Tips To Creating And Managing Your Online Reputation

Most people believe that controlling your online reputation is much more difficult than it really is. Unfortunately, this means that many businesses are left to fend for themselves in a way that they do not fully understand and trying to battle an unfair disadvantage in the online reputation management world.

This article will give you five simple tips to taking control of your online reputation while building your online brand and attracting customers.

#1 – Find out where you are today

The human brain works in a very funny way. Most people’s brains either overreact or under react to certain situations. If you’re a business owner you may have seen one or two negative reviews and feel that the sky is falling in on you. Fortunately, it isn’t. But not being completely clear about where you stand in the online reputation world can and will negatively affect your business even if you are in good and positive standing.

What do I mean by this? Even if you have 100% positive reviews you run the risk of not being able to capitalize, and therefore lose money, on this positive reinforcement of your brand. If you have no idea that there are people online saying great things about you, you miss the opportunity to leverage this type of customer support.

It is requisite that you take the time to research your current online reputation status. A simple search on Google.com or some of the secondary review sites will quickly give you an idea of what people are saying about your business.

#2 – Make a list of things to change

No business has a perfect online reputation. You may have negative reviews, or you may have no reviews at all. If you have negative reviews then you need to make a list of things that you’re going to do to gather more positive ones.

If you don’t have any reviews at all, then perhaps you need to set up a review funnel within your business model that will extrapolate the reviews that you so desperately need.
Either way, sit down and make a list of how you’re going to go about fixing your online reputation.

#3 – Find out what people love about you

Not every business can be everything to everybody. As a business owner you probably already learned that lesson the hard way. The same holds true for doing business online. Not every business owner, or business for that matter, has a fantastic writer on staff that can produce amazing blog posts.

Not every business has access to a designer or video creator to produce multimedia content to be promoted across the web. Regardless of what you do or do not have, it is important to take stock of the parts of the web that you can make contributions to.

If you have an iPhone, you can easily record home type movies about your business and post them onto YouTube for more exposure. Find out what parts of your business you can use to shine in the online world.

#4 – Set up a strategy

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Don’t just take the shotgun approach in your online reputation management campaign. You need to sit down and pinpoint the very steps that you’re going to take both in the off-line world, by asking your customers for reviews, and in the online world by aggressively building your reputation.

Without a strategy you might begin to mix messages that you had not originally intended on mixing. This mixed message signal can in fact hurt your online brand. The purpose of online reputation management is to build your brand not destroy it.

#5 – Execute

While it may be true that the failure to plan is detrimental, lack of execution is even worse. As a business owner you know that business is 99% execution and 1% fancy ideas.

Once you have come up with a strategy, you need to implement as soon as possible. Because of the disconnected nature of a business owner’s relationship with much of what goes on in the web, it will be easy for you to let your online reputation management campaign drift to the back of your to do list.

Make sure that you do the things necessary to make it your online reputation management campaign a priority. Social proof is incredibly powerful, and something that you should not put off because eventually it will cost your business money.

Common Mistakes in SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be a complicated process, especially if you are not very familiar, or well-versed, with the method. A lot of SEO beginners, and even some professionals, continue to commit the same mistakes when they do try to use SEO, thereby making it harder for them to get the results that they desire for their siteís page ranking.

Fortunately for you, by simply determining what mistakes they make and avoiding them, you can actually fair off better than those people who commit them, even if you are an SEO beginner. If you are already well-versed with the SEO process, then learning these mistakes wonít hurt your chances either, but rather, help improve them.

Wrong or irrelevant keywords

A lot of people try to use popular or common keywords in order to get people to their sites, regardless if the keywords that they use have any relevance to their site or not. You may be able to generate traffic using this type of method, but since you are not offering relevant content based on your keyword, people visiting your site will just end up leaving simply because you are not offering any content that they are looking for. You are actually getting traffic of market that isnít even interested in your site or its content, so you just end up with nothing.

Avoid doing this method, instead try to focus on using genuine relevant keywords, so you can direct traffic of possible clients to your site, and not just useless web traffic.

Overuse of keywords

Another mistake that people do when they try to optimize their site is by over-using keywords, or using them repeatedly in the title, tags and body. They believe that by overloading their siteís content with their chosen keywords, they will be able to trick search engines, and improve their siteís page ranking in the process.

Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. Search engines will be able to detect if you are committing the over-use of keywords, or ìspammingî, and if so, your site will pay the ultimate price by getting itself banned from the search engineís index.

Good or relevant content missing

You may believe that even if you do not offer any good or relevant content in your site that your site itself is still good enough to get and keep the traffic that you are able to produce, but this, however, is not the case, as good and relevant content is what will get people, or your possible clients, to stay to your site.

People are driven to go to your site with the keywords that you have chosen, but it is your siteís content that they will be looking for, so make sure that whatever keywords you have chosen to use, those keywords will direct them to relevant web content in your site. Do take the time to write good and relevant content in order to ensure that your site would continue to do well against others offering the same thing. Remember that the only way that you can get your site to stand out against other sites would be your siteís content.

Wrong HTML codes = HTML errors

If your site commits a lot of HTML errors when people try to access it, even if it has very good and relevant content, chances are people will visit your site a whole lot less. So before you submit your site to search engine directories, you need to check and double-check your HTML codes to avoid any problems with your site, such as slow loading time, browser conflicts, and low page ranking.

Too much graphics

Bear in mind that search engines detect texts when indexing, analyzing and checking sites, and are not programmed to look for graphics, so creating a graphics-rich site will not give it an edge over other sites in terms of SEO, but can actually have the opposite effect. Since search engines are not programmed to look for graphics, they may bypass your site, giving it a lower page ranking.

Learn to avoid these SEO mistakes, and you should be able to do a whole lot better than others.

Finding a Balance for Your Text Message Campaigns

Text messaging has spread like wildfire since it was introduced several years ago. Small businesses are utilizing this strategy to reach out to a wider audience while significantly cutting their marketing costs.

Printed materials such as the Yellow Pages, newspapers, and magazines are losing their grip and the public has shifted most of their attention to mobile phones.
Due to the digital mobile explosion, both large and small businesses have started to take notice of how Text Message marketing can help them reach out to local consumers.
However, it is very important that you understand the difference between “desired” text messages and “spam.” The best way to avoid the former is to allow your customers to opt-in to your mobile list. This will assure you that they really want to receive the updates you plan to send out.

It is pretty easy to acquire an opt-in list when you do everything right. You can get a lot of customers to sign up simply by offering incentives. To fuel your opt-in rates, advertise your Text Marketing campaign on your website and any other promotional materials.

Once you have a list started, you can start sending messages with special discount offers, contests, prizes, and anything else to keep them interested.
However, although they opt-in to your list, you should still limit the number of messages you send out.

Depending on your type of business, carefully plan campaigns to ensure that you respect your list. If you start sending out too many messages, you will realize that the number of customers reading them will decrease pretty quickly. So it is crucial to find the perfect balance that works for your business and your customers.
In short, a winning campaign typically consists of lower frequency and interesting content. This will keep your audience engaged and looking forward to hearing from your business and what you have to offer.

Video Marketing and SEO

There is no doubt that a video marketing campaign can increase awareness of a company and promote a band of loyal followers, but a properly run strategy can also increase a businessís search-ability. Every company wants their website to be listed at the top of search engine results pages and video marketing SEO practices can help get any businessís webpage ranked in the top 10.

Many studies of online user activity show that the vast majority of people use a major search engine like Google or Bing to find what they are looking for. Studies also indicate that most online viewers will only click on the top 10 results returned by a search engine, or results listed on the first page. This means that in order to be found by the most amounts of potential customers a business must find a way to get their website in the top search engine rankings. Videos represent a great way to accomplish this. Video SEO practices not only increase a websiteís relevancy in the eyes of search engines, but videos are more attractive to viewers than traditional text webpages are. In fact, studies have shown that more online viewers will click on a video result listed in the 6th or 7th position on a search engineís result page over a traditional text result ranked number 1 or 2.

Video SEO practices include utilizing targeted keywords and including the word ëvideoí in the meta data. This is because most people will type the word ëvideoí into a search engine if they want to see a specific topic on video. How the video is named, what keywords are included in the title, meta tags, meta descriptions and its URL address can also influence how the video will be ranked by search engines. Incorporating some video SEO techniques into any video marketing strategy will guarantee more online viewership.

What does online reputation management involve?

There are a number of activities involved in managing your businessís reputation online each of which must be part of a carefully considered marketing strategy:

1. Creating your online branded image- this involves being visible online using resources under your own control such having your own website, blogs, social media accounts, business directory listings, web 2.0 sites, syndicated articles, image portfolios etc. The advantage of this strategy is that you can control a lot of search engine listings with your own information about your business instead of having those search results being dominated by other people talking about your business.

2. Monitoring your online reputation- this involves keeping abreast on a daily basis about what people are saying about your business on the different web media. Using free and paid monitoring tools, itís possible to collate all the data about your company keywords from different sources and know both the positive and negative opinions about your business.

3. Managing your online reputation- this involves taking the results of your monitoring activity and taking measures to control bad publicity and to draw attention to the positive publicity about your business. This is probably the hardest part of online reputation management as it involves:

* dealing with negative reviews,

* engaging with those who posted negative content,

* maintaining a positive and truthful position without falling for the temptation to engage in a online word fight.

* Having the courage to apologize, admit your shortcomings and rectify a situation

* Thanking those who have contributed positive reviews and incorporating them into your online and offline marketing content.

These are the three main activities involved in online reputation management that will help a small business to have a positive online brand image.

4 Key Advantages of Video Marketing for Local Business

1. Faster Rankings

Attaining page one rankings for your website on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines has become difficult as competition has grown and usually takes several weeks.
However creating a video with the same keywords can get ranked within hours or sometimes minutes of being uploaded.
So if youíre looking for quick SEO results, include video marketing as part of your SEO campaign.

2. More Appealing

Video is more appealing to customers especially when demonstrating how a product is used or when the actual business owner is in the video. Researchers have understood that people take in information better when itís presented in a visual format than just a plain text format.

Little wonder that YouTube gets over 2billion video views per day.

So video marketing creates more user engagement and understanding about your business.

3. Integrates well with Social Media

The beauty of video marketing is that it integrates well with social media which has proven to be extremely popular in the recent past.  No Facebook Fanpage is complete without video content and video has a stronger viral effect than just plain text updates.

If you look on the most popular Facebook fanpages, video is definitely a key component of their strategy, so apply the same technique and boost your social media marketing.

4. Cheap

Video Marketing is one of the cheapest forms of online marketing and is something a business owner can do by themselves with basic equipment even when on a tight budget.

Even with just an iPhone camera, one can record a basic video about their business and upload it to their Facebook page or YouTube account.

Video Marketing is an affordable option compared to expensive TV commercials.

5 Deadly Google Places Mistakes

With more and more people searching the Internet for local information it has become crucially important for small businesses to maintain a Google Places profile. If you want to be on the first place of Google Places though, you need to follow the rules. Breaking any of Google’s rules could result in your listing being demoted in the rankings or worse yet, de-listed from Google Places completely. Making sure to avoid these 5 deadly Google Places mistakes will give you a better chance of a page one listing.

Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is when someone puts extraneous keywords into fields that aren’t supposed to have keywords. For example, lets say your business name is officially Vance Piping, but rather than putting Vance Piping as your business name, you put Vance Piping Boston Plumbers Fixing Leaky Faucets and Broken Hot Water Heaters Since 1952 as your name on your Google Places profile. All those other words beyond “Piping” would be considered keyword stuffing. Unfortunately, many businesses end up unintentionally keyword spamming their profile. Whether you intend to keyword stuff or not, the result is the same. You will eventually get your profile deleted. Google is particularly persnickety about keyword stuffing in your name and your category. When filling out the category field always describe what your business is rather than what it does. Returning to the Vance Piping example, the category should be “plumber”, not “fixes hot water heaters”, etc.

Inconsistent Information

Google needs to rely on other directory websites and public information sources in order to verify your business is actually relevant to searchers. If Google didn’t compare information it would be easy for unscrupulous business owners to game the system into believing a business had locations in communities it didn’t serve. The problem with Google checking their information against other data sources is that the information is often presented differently across different sources. For example, in one source your address may be listed as 321 Main St Suite 2 Anytown USA while in another source you list it as 321 #2 Main St Anytown USA. This can lead to Google deciding to eliminate your information all together for fear of it being fraudulent. Be sure to pick out a common name, address, and phone number format and use that across all directory services.

Using a 1-800 number for your contact number

Google looks for clues in order to verify that your business is really located in the location you claim. One of the biggest clues Google looks for is your company’s area code. If you list your phone number as a 1-800 number Google won’t be able to verify your area code. In their Quality Guidelines, Google also states that you should not use a referral or tracking phone number. As previously discussed, the number you do use should be consistent with the number available on public information sources.

Not including photos and videos in your profile

Google Places gives highest ranking priority to businesses with fully filled out owner-claimed profiles. For the best chance of ranking in the top spot in Google Places you should make it a priority to fill out your profile 100%. Unfortunately, you can not have a 100% complete profile unless you submit 10 photos and at least one video to Google. Don’t be intimidated by this step. Although it can be nice to have, you do not need studio quality photos and videos. A couple of snapshots taken with a point-and-click digital camera and a slideshow video of those photos should be sufficient for getting your profile 100% complete. Depending on the type of business you own, you may want to consider including photos of your staff, your interior, and your exterior. Even shots of your menu or service listing are acceptable. Don’t be afraid to be a little creative here, but keep in mind that these photos are highly visible on your Google Places page and should make a good first impression to prospective customers.

Leaving Fake Reviews for Your Business
One of the easiest ways to get banned from Google Places is by pumping up your listing with fake reviews. Google has a sophisticated system in place for detecting fake reviews and chances are you will get caught if you try to game the system in any way. There are so many ways to get legitimate good reviews from real customers, do not fall prey to fake review generation companies who promise the sky, but in reality get your listing permanently banned from Google. If you’re having trouble generating reviews naturally, you should actively encourage your best customers to leave reviews. You may want to consider training your staff to ask for reviews or you may want to create some signs or business cards that instruct people to leave reviews. Whatever your strategy though, always make sure that your reviews are legitimate and left by real customers.